Charlevoix was one of our favorite stops last year as we made our way around Lake Michigan, so it was high on the list for a repeat visit this time around. We spent 3 days in the Charlevoix City Marina mostly due to some high winds and weather that was predicted to head our way and with high winds, we would prefer to be at a dock rather than on anchor.

After our excitement with the water spouts we pulled into Charlevoix around 5 pm and got settled at the dock and then made our way into town to seek out some dinner. We stopped at one of our favorites, the Bridge Street Tap Room. It was a bit chilly, so we ate inside and they had some awesome smoked brisket. I had the smoked brisket sandwich and Mark has the smoked brisket nachos. It was delicious!! We walked back to the boat and we were in bed pretty early since we have been up since 4:30 am.

The next day we took a long walk around town to see some of the sights. We were told that the Charlevoix library was a place to stop and see. In 2006 the new Charlevoix public library was opened to the public. The building was a previous middle school that was built in 1927 and was completely renovated to the tune of $2 million dollars. It is quite an elaborate library for a town of just over 2,000 people. Here are some highlights:

Next, we walked to a well known historical district of the town to see the Mushroom Houses. Builder Earl Young built houses of local materials such as limestone, field stone and boulders to fit within the natural landscape of the building site. The key features of his designs include wide wavy eaves, exposed rafter tails, cedar-shake roofs or thatched roofs. Because of their whimsical design they are often referred to as Gnome homes, mushrooms houses or Hobbit houses. There are several examples of his housing designs within a block or two area of downtown Charlevoix. Here are the ones, we captured:

We walked back to the main street and had lunch at the Village cafe right on the sidewalk and then got a few necessities at the local grocery store. The rest of the day was spent hanging on the boat, watching other boats come in and having some dinner aboard.

The next day there was a farmer’s market in Charlevoix that we went to go check out. They had quite a variety of farm fresh items and crafts to choose from. We settled on some fresh strawberries and some homemade oatmeal raisin cookies, YUM!

The weather we were expecting arrived today and it rained for much of the afternoon. So, we made the best of our time and organized the aft cabin in the boat, we will be having guests aboard in the next couple of weeks. We also tackled a project on our to do list. We replaced the carpet on our stair treads that go down into the boat. To say they were worn and gross was an understatement. I am not certain you could vacuum the dirt out of them any more. Now they look awesome and brand new.

Here is where our stairs normally go. We have removed them to change out the carpet.

The stairs all complete and back in place!

We had a great final dinner in town at the East Park Tavern and called it a night. Tomorrow we plan to move out into Lake Charlevoix and anchor for several days.